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[RST]

Hello folks,

Thought I'd share another small project...

This one is a little tug I built about 23, maybe 24 years ago now.  It fell (I knocked it) off the shelf it was sat on back in 2018 and has been in storage since.  I just recovered it from my Mothers loft this past week to fix up and renovate.  Luckily when it fell the only things were...

• Broken rubbing strake port aft
• Port side nav lamp popped off
• Balsa inside holding the rudder servo broke

Nothing else I can see apart from a couple of very small scrapes which is not bad considering it fell 4 feet onto hard laminate flooring!  I have all the bits as well.

It was built from balsa and thin plywood.  it was the first model I ever skinned with glass cloth and polyester resin (that's probably why more damage wasn't done!).


It's about 380mm long and 100mm on the beam.  It's TID 'ish but completely freehand without any plans or drawings so it's not really true to a TID.  It has:

• Old 27mhz receiver
• 2a speed controller from Midway models (works off power from the receiver if I recall -TBC)
• Full-size rudder servo
• Seuthe / Graupner 6v smoke burner in the funnel
• Batteries were old 4.8v NiCd's recovered from a retired Bosch power screwdriver

...I'll update some of the electrics, and batteries will definitely be changed-out.  The motor from memory is a small industrial DC motor I was gifted by Larry Hodgson (hovercraft fame) -very smooth and draws very little current.  It won't pull the skin off a rice pudding, but it is only a very small model.

I don't really like military models these days, but I think I'll re-paint it in the same grey drab of WWII period.  It will be another one to tend to as and when when mood suits.  It wasn't built out of expensive parts (I couldn't afford anything expensive for modelling while I was a student), just a good example what you can do cheaply though I think.

Rich

[hama]

Lovely model, lots of character!
Hama

[RST]

Hi Hande,
I spent some time earlier reminding me what I made this from.  I think this is right, the bit where the rubing strake broke is a join in some plastic trim where one length wasn't quite long enough to do the fill run, it should go back-on with some clamping and filling.
I have yet to weigh it for a before and after but the aim is to replace with the same apec. power (apart from the motor -thats very good) but lower the CoG for the same displacement.  This should be very easy to do as I often use AA NiMh cells these days with 2.6 or 2.9Ah capacity.
Rich

[Sven]

Hi Rich,


as Hama wrote " [/size]lots of character " ,  so why you will re-paint it ?
[/size]I would keep it as it is, old but full of charme.
[/size]
[/size]Sven

[RST]

Hi Rich,


as Hama wrote " lots of character " ,  so why you will re-paint it ?
I would keep it as it is, old but full of charme.

Sven

Hi, simply the older I am then I don't like anything that could be associated with military objects in my personal life thsese days, especially with the situaton in Eastern Europe.  Actually I found a few minor scrapes and dings that warranted a re-paint anywway.  I also found since that most of the mountings of the original R/C gear broke when it fell -but that's not so surprising and they don't matter as the original R/C will be ditched.  The original 4.8v Nicad btteries weighed in at something like 320grams on the scales and the model weights = about 800grams so 1.1kg or thereabouts displacement total.  I figured out since the original battery pack was full C size cells so there is room for improvement there if I can find anyting in stock these days.

I think it looks better in civvy colour scheme so far anyway (roughly appied so far and more brown / ochre than the pic alludes to).

Rich

[Martin (Admin)]

   Love it!   

[Alan52]

Same 

[SteamboatPhil]

Really cool 

[CarlC]

That looks great

[RST]

Thanks folks,
Some updates will come.  I said there was not much damage from the drop but to be honest the more I look inside allot of the balsa bits broke which was understandable when two big hefty nicad packs broke loose!  Nothing major that can't be fixed, you can't build a model designed to be dropped from 4 feet and survive unless planned frm the start!